Thread: SAN DIEGO : ATTORNEY NEW EL GRUPO SPOKESMAN

SAN DIEGO : Attorney new El Grupo spokesman

Changing demographic causing friction in North County, Torres says

By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

Saturday, January 24, 2009 6:07 PM PST



Victor Torres hopes to further change as spokesman for El Grupo, a North County-based umbrella group of civil rights organizations. (Photo by Edward Sifuentes - staff photographer)

Victor Torres, who recently was appointed spokesman of the Latino rights organization El Grupo, said he brings a wealth of personal and professional experience to the job.

Torres, a criminal defense attorney, grew up in National City in the 1960s and 1970s, a time when the South Bay was going through demographic and cultural changes similar to what North County is experiencing today, he said.

That change created tensions within the community, he said.

As one of the first Mexican-American families to move into the National City neighborhood where he was raised, he said he heard comments from his neighbors that Mexicans should be mowing their lawns, not living next door.

A resident of Rancho Penasquitos for seven years, Torres said he now hears similar hostilities expressed toward Latino day laborers and migrant workers in North County by anti-illegal immigration groups and elected officials.

The Latino population in North County has skyrocketed since the 1990s, reaching more than 40 percent in Escondido and San Marcos.

"It reminds me of the times when I was growing up in South Bay, where change was upsetting whites because they felt like they were being taken over, and they are not," Torres said. "It's just the face of their community changing."

Things have changed in South Bay, he said, with Latinos now in elected and high government positions.

But change is coming to North County, too, Torres said, pointing to the recent election of Councilwoman Olga Diaz to the Escondido City Council.

Torres hopes to further that change as spokesman for El Grupo, a North County-based umbrella group of civil rights organizations. He succeeded Bill Flores, an Escondido resident and retired assistant sheriff, who served as the group's public voice and face for the last three years.

Torres graduated from the University of San Diego in 1984 and the University of San Diego's School of Law in 1988. He is past president of the La Raza Lawyers Association of San Diego, a group that promotes Latino participation in the legal system and provides scholarships to law students.

The association is one of more than a dozen organizations that make up El Grupo. Others include the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, the Chicano Federation of San Diego County, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People of North County and the National Latino Peace Officers' Association of San Diego County.

El Grupo was founded in the late 1990s by the late San Marcos City Councilman Vince Andrade and others as an umbrella organization for various groups addressing Latino issues in North County.

The group faded from public view several years ago. It resurfaced in 2006 in response to events perceived as targeting minority communities in North County, including anti-illegal immigrant rallies.

The re-emergence of the group also was a reaction to Vista's day labor law and Escondido's controversial rental law barring landlords from renting to illegal immigrants in recent years.

Flores, who will remain in the organization as an administrator, said Torres was the right person for the job.

Often high-profile Latinos must censor what they say because they hold government or corporate positions. But Torres is free to express himself because he has his own business, making him a good candidate for the position, Flores said.

"He is in the best position by being self-employed," Flores said. "He has the passion and he has the liberty to say what needs to be said."

Torres said he became acquainted with El Grupo about two years ago after representing several people who had been involved in altercations with anti-illegal immigration activists in North County.

For example, Torres represented Fernando Guardado, a Fallbrook man who was pepper-sprayed by a member of the San Diego Minutemen.

The confrontation began when Guardado approached the man and smashed the man's video camera against the pavement during a protest in front of St. Peter's Catholic Church in July 2007. Guardado later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of vandalism for damaging the anti-illegal immigration activist's camera.

Jeff Schwilk, who heads the San Diego Minutemen, said he hopes Torres can "tone down the race-based rhetoric" against elected officials, law enforcement and citizens who advocate for the border security and legal immigration.

"Pitting Latinos and people who are sympathetic toward illegal aliens against American citizens is not helpful to the safety and security of our North County communities," Schwilk said.

Torres, a married father of two children, said El Grupo can act to dispel stereotypes about the Latino community. Though his family migrated from Mexico nearly 100 years ago, Torres said he has been mistaken for someone who doesn't speak English.

He said El Grupo can act as a "bridge" between the Latino community, which is increasing in numbers throughout the county, and the community at large. Torres said some people may never come to terms with the change Latinos bring, but he said his profession has prepared him to face that side, as well.

"There are some people that you're never going to change their mind," Torres said. "It's not that different than what I do for a living. There's jurors that I'm never going to change their minds."

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.

N C TIMES . COM

(2) Comments

Dadakulit January 24, 2009 6:35PM PST
Illegal immigrants impose a “taxâ€

Can you believe this?

Torres said he became acquainted with El Grupo about two years ago after representing several people who had been involved in altercations with anti-illegal immigration activists in North County.

For example, Torres represented Fernando Guardado, a Fallbrook man who was pepper-sprayed by a member of the San Diego Minutemen.

The confrontation began when Guardado approached the man and smashed the man's video camera against the pavement during a protest in front of St. Peter's Catholic Church in July 2007. Guardado later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of vandalism for damaging the anti-illegal immigration activist's camera.